


The Dead Arc

by dance_the_code



Series: Conference Wives [5]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-14
Updated: 2008-01-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 15:59:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 9,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7229110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dance_the_code/pseuds/dance_the_code
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie finds something unexpected among Eva’s belongings</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> –Conference Wives

Title: Four Wheels, Waiting  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 134  
Spoilers: None – Lady E requests that I put a tissue warning on this.  
Summary: Charlie finds something unexpected among Eva’s belongings  
Disclaimer – if you recognize it, its not mine.  
Note: –Conference Wives

 

Charlie was sitting at the table examining a list of belongings, items from Eva and Alexis’ lives that were in storage.

Furniture he had never seen.

Rugs he thought he might remember if he saw them.

And a car… a very familiar car that Eva had reportedly sold to purchase the minivan when they were expecting Isaac.

Unlike any of the other items, the car was in a storage unit in Eva’s name only, with Charlie’s name as an emergency contact.

A 1950s black jaguar convertible, the preferred mode of transportation for every road trip he took with Eva and Alexis.

The car he had wanted to find for the distribution for of Eva and Alexis’ ashes.

He called the storage unit and made arrangements for the car to be drop-shipped to the LA.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva’s death will bring a lot of secrets to light…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – Billy Cooper appears on the scene and then dissappears just as quick in the canon…so…why not a little background…it’s up for grabs…so here’s the Conference Wives background for Cooper

Title: Secrets of the Dead (Cooper Back story arc Part 1 (yes, a new story arc))  
Pairing/Characters: Eva (OFC), OMC, Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 246  
Spoilers: None   
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.   
Summary: Eva’s death will bring a lot of secrets to light…  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – Billy Cooper appears on the scene and then dissappears just as quick in the canon…so…why not a little background…it’s up for grabs…so here’s the Conference Wives background for Cooper 

 

When we die our secrets are bared to the world. Thoughts, feelings, desires, hidden in drawers and diaries are open to the interpretation of whoever clears away the trappings of our existence. 

Eva’s secrets sat quietly in the garage at Charlie’s house. Each waiting for Charlie to carefully decide their fate. Some he would burn, others would be sent to various government agencies and still others, he might keep hidden away, souvenirs of their time together. 

But the secrets Eva possessed were not just hers. 

Some secrets belonged to others who did not even know she possessed them. 

There are many things a starving college student will do for a month’s grocery money.

She followed his every movement until the day she died, cursing him with the epithet:

“Butterscotch.”

Strong, hard-willed, thick skinned and with the sense of a dime store candy.

Billy Cooper was like a lost, wet puppy. 

You had to take him in, even though you knew he’d piddle on the carpets. 

But when Eva had first gotten involved, his name wasn’t Billy Cooper. 

Billy Cooper was a product of Eva’s very ingenious mind.

Every habit, every prejudice, every like, dislike and nervous tic had to be accounted for and the truth…the truth had to be impossible to find.

Agent Bradley Drummond had been adamant.

Eva had agreed.

Now, both Agent Drummond and Eva had gone the way of dust and the truth about Billy Cooper waited for discovery in Charlie’s garage.


	3. Requests of the Dead – Cooper Back story arc Part 2 (yes, a new story arc)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva is given a proposition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic

Title: Requests of the Dead – Cooper Back story arc Part 2 (yes, a new story arc)  
Pairing/Characters: Eva (OFC), Bradley OMC, Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 398  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Eva is given a proposition  
Note: Conference Wives Fic

Eva was the first to admit that she was possibly an evil genius.

A criminal mastermind even.

You had to be if you were managing a double major in Criminal Justice and Computer Science.

She thought in code.

The internet was her personal playground.

Viruses? Easy.

Hack a government database? Child’s play.

Get caught? Not in a million years.

She was the goddess of the glitch – that tedious little computer mix up that seems to resolve itself, but only after hours of cursing and tears…if it was important…Eva was behind it.

Donald Black once said all crime was moralistic in pursuit of justice and Eva was inclined to agree, she had a very strong moral compass and if crime is what it took to balance the scales, a few key strokes and many wrongs could be righted.

Unfortunately, computer based vigilantism didn’t pay well.

She turned away from destroying the finances of a child pornography financier to find a man standing in the doorway of her dorm room.

This could possibly be a bad situation.  
“Can I help you?”

“Eva Thomas?”

“Yes.” She took in the cut of his suit, the wear on his shoes…a fed…she was sure of it.

“My name is Special Agent Bradley Drummond and I need your help.”

“I’m listening.” She felt her spine stiffen and her heart constrict. She’d been caught and now she was going to have to pay the piper.

“I’ll shut the door, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip. This was really not good.

Agent Drummond walked into the room, shutting the door behind him and sitting in a chair across from the suspicious young woman. He removed a file from his coat and a wad of hundred dollar bills.

“His name is Brian Sloane, he’s an informant of mine...a prostitute. He’s had a hard life and he needs a second chance.” He paused. “An untraceable second chance.”

He watched a glint of fire rise in her eyes as she reached for the file. He held it back.

“If you take this file, you take the money and you take the job. It has to be perfect, it has to stand up to a federal background check.”

“Why?”

“Because he’ll be enrolling at Quantico in a week’s time under the name William Cooper.”

She took the file. She loved a challenge.


	4. Bringing Out the Dead – Cooper Back story arc Part 3 (yes, a new story arc)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bradley prepares Cooper for his new life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic

Title: Bringing Out the Dead – Cooper Back story arc Part 3 (yes, a new story arc)  
Pairing/Characters: Eva (OFC), Bradley (OMC), Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 389  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Bradley prepares Cooper for his new life  
Note: Conference Wives Fic

“Hey, kid, you want to eat?” Bradley sat down on the couch in the studio apartment the bureau had set up to help in the sting.

The minute he had met the soon to be William Cooper, it was more than lust, God help him there was lust involved, but the kid had an eye and an instinct that were being wasted in his line of work.

He had meant for it to be a quick thing, just a blow job from a talented, fey Irishman with a devil may care twinkle in his eye and talented lips that could kiss more than the mythic blarney stone.

But the kid had found his badge and filled him in on every low life and fugitive in a five mile radius, in a quick monologue of self defense.

Bradley put him on the pay roll within the hour and reaped the benefits.

God, this kid put the pro in professional.

“You mean actual food or your cock in my mouth while you tell me the basics about the guy you’re looking for?”

Bradley swallowed his desire. The young man leaned against the wall, his posture dripping with sensuality and his eyes alight with the promise of mind blowing sex.

“Actual food…you remember what we talked about?”

“Yeah, I took those tests…GED, that entrance thing…everything you asked for…what? Don’t tell me you want me to do them again, I’m sure as hell not going to pass them. I’m a fuck up, Bradley, a worthless fuck, always have been.”

“Damn it, don’t talk like that…you passed, kid. You passed all of them and I’ve taken care of it…you’re going to Quantico. You’ll be a damn good agent, just keep your head down while you’re there and try to stay out of trouble.” He tossed a wallet at the young man and left before he gave in to the temptation, he had things to do, too many things to do to let his desires get the better of him.

Signing off on Sloane’s criminal informant file about his tragic demise before Eva’s fabricated death certificate hit the system was one.

His daughter’s dance recital was the other, his wife would be waiting, he had to pick up flowers, pink roses, with that baby’s breath stuff and the green ferns.

Too many things to do.


	5. Honoring the Dead  – Cooper Back story arc Part 4 (yes, a new story arc)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper’s new life has nothing and everything to do with Bradley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic

Title: Honoring the Dead – Cooper Back story arc Part 4 (yes, a new story arc)  
Pairing/Characters: Bradley (OMC), Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 235  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Cooper’s new life has nothing and everything to do with Bradley  
Note: Conference Wives Fic

He was running hard.

Running to rather than from for once and he was not going to stop.

This fuge was not getting away.

No way.

He kept sight of the black leather jacket and stained blue jeans, hell, probably still blood, not just mud and dirt and sweat.

He was going to run this punk into the ground and then he was going to beat the living shit out of him.

Agent William, call me Billy, Cooper had promise. That’s what they all said.

He also had a desire to keep moving, a bit of a gypsy.

So they assigned him to fugitive recovery.

Right after the funeral.

Bradley’s funeral…Cooper had stood there and said nothing to the widow or the kids.

Nothing out loud that was, up in his head he apologized for a hundred blow jobs and quick fucks, all of Bradley’s indiscretions.

In his head he promised he’d chase this bastard down and beat him to a pulp.

He had never made promises before, but you didn’t break promises, even he knew that.

So this punk was going down and every punk like him until he himself was put in the ground.

Just like a portion of his pay check would be sent to Bradley’s widow and his kids every month for the rest of his life.

He had a second chance…and two lives full of sin for which to atone.


	6. Wake the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bradley’s daughter makes arrangements to seek out Agent Cooper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

Title: Wake the Dead  
Pairing/Characters: OFC, Cooper  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 156  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Bradley’s daughter makes arrangements to seek out Agent Cooper  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

 

She didn’t really remember him, not exactly.

He was a moment, one in a thousand at a funeral that she watched through a curtain of tears and long blonde hair.

But he must have been a good friend of her dad’s – every month he sent her and her brother some money, he knew birthdays and sent money for school clothes and vacation souvenirs.

Just enough, tucked into a card, usually a funny thinking of you one, not all were signed, but they were obviously from him.

So, she had to find him.

Special Agent William Cooper was the only substitute she could think of for her dad in this moment.

She was getting married.

Anna Drummond made a note at the top of her wedding planner to contact the FBI about the whereabouts of Special Agent Cooper.

She hoped he would agree to walk her down the aisle.

She didn’t think she could do it alone.


	7. Whispers of the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past comes to haunt Cooper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

Title: Whispers of the Dead  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 221  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: The past comes to haunt Cooper  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

Holidays were over. Not that he and Eppes had taken much time off or anything, but the decoration had been taken down and packed away, Charlie and the Sniper God would be back from Virginia in a few days and he was trying to get the telephone system to give up the voice mail denoted by the annoying blinking light.

Damn it. Fuck it. Hell it couldn’t be important.

No, wait, there, now the nice computerized voice was telling him he had a message and if he pressed five he could retrieve it.

He didn’t catch the entire message the first time, but what he did catch paled his face to the color of a marshmallow.

If he hadn’t been sitting down he would have been on the floor.

Anna

Bradley’s daughter

Getting married

Didn’t need money

Wanted to know if he would walk her down the aisle

No.

No way.

Not possible.

Fuck.

The band on his left hand tightened.

He wanted to rip it off and throw it across the room.

He wanted to erase the message.

He’d send a note.

He couldn’t do it.

Some case, something important, sorry, recommend that she have her brother do it.

No way in hell.

He hung up the phone and stared at it as the blinking light stopped.

No fucking way.


	8. Choking to Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper reacts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc (with help from the lovely Lady E)

Title: Choking to Death  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 377  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Cooper reacts  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc (with help from the lovely Lady E)

He tore out of the office like his seat cushion had been infested by killer bees.

Bradley’s daughter called him about her upcoming wedding.

Weddings meant people, Bradley’s family, his wife, his kids, hell maybe even his parents, there was no way he could be involved in that, he couldn’t attend such a ceremony, let alone participate.

What was this girl thinking?

He wouldn’t respond, let her have a perfect day, with her family and not her father’s whore, just family, champagne, cake, ring…

A ring.

Cooper twisted it on his finger. It felt alien still, yet its presence was easily forgotten when he worked. Moments of stillness sent his thumb directly to the cool metal circling his third finger.

Jewelry wasn’t typically his thing. Bradley had worn a ring; he remembered that. As Scotch as Coop was Irish, with a band of yellow gold on his left hand. There were Celtic knots on it. He never removed it. Ever. Cooper had never asked him why. That hadn’t been important.

This was important to his Eppes. Coop wore it to make his Eppes happy. If he kept his Eppes happy, he wouldn’t leave again…

He was a mick. A lush. Liquor was a food group and he liked it that way. But Billy Cooper had never been so drunk in his life as he was the night Don Eppes had left him seven years ago. Hell, he’d spent about two weeks in the bottle after that fight; first thing resembling a vacation he’d ever taken without someone telling him to do it.

It was a fight they still hadn't talked about, even after living together for the last few months.

Cooper twisted the ring again, then slipped it off. He stared at it, resting there in the palm of his hand. It didn’t really mean anything. Cooper knew plenty of men whose rings were part of a costume: they wore a mask of fidelity and normalcy to keep their jobs, while indulging their real predilections in secret.

He could sell this little band and use the money to live for a month, maybe even two. This carefully molded scrap of metal, even with a couple pretty crystals stuck in it, wasn’t binding he and Don together.

Nothing was.


	9. Cheating Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PRON from Lady E

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc (with help from the lovely Lady E)

Title: Cheating Death  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper/Don  
Rating/Category: NC-17  
Word Count: 1,493  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: PRON from Lady E  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc (with help from the lovely Lady E)

 

Cooper was in an abysmal mood. Don could read the tension in his frame like a passage from an old favorite novel. He put the Thai take-out on the kitchen table and walked behind the couch where Coop was lounged with his sock feet propped on the coffee table. Reaching out, his fingers found the knots in those set shoulders easily, working to ease them. “Tough day?”

“I don’t play well with others,” Cooper snarled. His Eppes’ hands were attempting to soothe his mood; his body was already yielding, but his temper refused to surrender just yet. “I’m not cut out for this office politics bullshit.”

“You’ll adjust, Coop; I did. It’ll just take time.”

“No, it won’t, Eppes!” Cooper stood and rounded on his lover, lashing out at the source of his mood. “I ain’t cut out for this; I’m better in the wind, running on my own, with nobody to get in my way and I can get shit done! You’ve obviously forgotten what that’s like.”

Don was quiet for a moment. He could sense how Cooper was feeling: trapped, caged, forced to settle before he was ready or comfortable enough to do so. “I know its hard settling down, Coop. I haven’t forgotten: just us, running how we saw fit as long as we caught the fuge… screwing wherever and whenever we wanted…”

“Don’t try to get around me that way.” Cooper’s hackles lowered slightly at the reminder. Don running the wind with him had been a heady time in his life: three years spent in a haze of sex and joy and utter abandon. It had been almost a decade since then, and it seemed like the entire world had changed around him, including his Eppes.

He hadn’t felt so adrift since Bradley’s death. Even when Eppes had left him, he’d at least had the comforts of the open road and decent whiskey. He didn’t like feeling off-balance; off-balance was vulnerable.

Vulnerable like the little ten-year-old boy he’d been, spending his nights lying awake in case his older brother tried to kill him again.

“I’m not tryin’ to ‘get around’ you.” Don stepped closer, slowly, trying to approach Cooper without spooking him. “I’m on your side here, Coop. We’re partners, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Cooper spat back, his tone acid. “I especially remember how one day you just up and left for no good reason. No warning, nothing. Just goodbye.”

Cold splashed over Don. That day was finally coming back to haunt him. He’d thought, foolishly, that Cooper wouldn’t bring it up, that their present situation would be enough to make Cooper forget the way Don had ended their relationship and partnership seven years ago. He should have known better. “I did what I thought was best,” Don replied, his tone muted.

“Why? Why was it ‘best’ to transfer without even saying anything?” Cooper raged, finally venting seven years of anger and betrayal and hurt. “Months, Eppes! Fucking months you had to tell me! But no; you never said a damn word; just up and left me with no warning and no reason! Why would you ever think that was best for us!?”

“Because I was gonna get you killed!”

Don saw Cooper start and was glad of it. His partner wasn’t the only one with raw emotions over this. “I spent so long being so angry with you that I was starting to slip: a half-step too slow, a quarter-second delay. It was gonna get worse, and I wasn’t gonna be there, and you were gonna get killed. So I had to leave… to save your life.”

Cooper felt displaced, as though someone else was standing in his place and he was hearing the words through the wall. His eyes were wide and he was stepping closer to his Eppes, his heart thudding so loud he was sure Eppes could hear it. “Why, Eppes? What did I do?”

Don looked away, unable to face him. Even now, with a ring on Cooper’s finger, it made him feel pathetic, ashamed. “You didn’t love me back.”

Heart slamming against his ribs, Cooper somehow closed the distance between them. His hand was shaking as it reached up to touch that downcast face… to turn it back up so he could see those dark, honest eyes… eyes he loved to see in the throes… dilated and luminous… “What are you talking about?”

“I fell in love with you… but it was just sex… I know it was, and it was amazing… is amazing… but I fell for you and you didn’t fall back and… I started hating you a little for that… so I left, before I could hurt you for not loving me.”

“So… if you think I didn’t love you then…”

“Look, Coop… I need you, okay? My father dragged you here and I asked you not to leave. I’m not asking you to love me anymore. All I want is for you to stay. The rest is my problem… but I’m not gonna push you away for not loving me when I’m the one who asked you to stay.”

The hand on Don’s chest, resting there after raising his chin, slid up and around Don’s neck. His other hand curved around Don’s waist and brought his Eppes sharply into his frame. Don gasped, his hands reaching up and gripping hard on Cooper’s triceps. Cooper’s mouth hovered just over Don’s; Don’s breath, shallow already, was warm against his lips.

“I don’t know about pretty words, Eppes.” He felt Don nod his understanding; his hand molded his Eppes’ hips against his until the clothing between them was meaningless. “I let my actions speak for me… you know that.”

“Yeah, I do…” Don’s fingers dug hard into Cooper’s arms, bracing… his heart cracked and bled in his chest… knowing made it impossible to pretend…

His despair was palpable in the way he clung to Cooper… the way he kissed Cooper back… the surrender as the older agent seduced Don… bore him to the bedroom… undressed him and lingered over him… drawing out the foreplay with a tenderness that only drove the barbs deeper into Don’s wounded heart. He spread for Cooper with a feather-light touch… choked back a sob as Cooper slipped deep inside… buried his head in Cooper’s neck as Cooper gathered him close and rolled them upright.

But rather than brace Don against the wall, Cooper cradled his Eppes in his lap, rocking with Don and brushing tender kisses over Don’s neck and shoulder as the pressure between them waxed and waned. Don clung tighter, aching, pushing at the self-loathing and the anger… Cooper felt his anguish and responded, kissing and massaging and rocking with his Eppes for what felt like hours. It was warm here, safe… and Cooper knew his Eppes needed to feel that way.

It wasn’t until Don was moaning, squirming, teetering on the edge that Cooper spoke. “Every time I touch you… every time I’m buried inside you… every time you make me moan… I say it every time, Eppes… I just can’t say words I’ve never heard.”

Don’s spine snapped straight. Cooper moaned at the pressure change, his eyes shuttering for half a second. When they opened again, Don was staring into them, disarmed, defenseless… Cooper almost couldn’t bear to look back as his Eppes stared at him with his heart in his eyes.

Don’s lips crashed into his. Cooper’s arms trapped Don against him and he rolled his Eppes down into the mattress, driving hard, harder, kissing Eppes until his lips bruised as those hips ground just as hard into his every stroke…

Coop exploded. Don came moments later, Cooper’s name tearing from his lips. His short-cropped nails dug through the skin over Cooper’s shoulder blades and Cooper bit sharply at the base of Don’s collarbone, soothing the angry red mark with his tongue as they both came down.

“I love you.”

Soft. Simple. Three words Cooper knew were repeated with no meaning by countless men every day. He’d never thought they were enough, that they ever really meant anything. Apparently, they meant everything to his Eppes.

Maybe there was something binding them, after all.

Cooper kissed those soft, bruised lips, those dark, dilated eyes, tasting saline tears. Warmth spiraled through his chest and he gathered Don close, letting him nestle in that adorable Eppes fashion. “You, too, Eppes.” A pause. “I’d say it… if I could.”

Don wanted to ask why. He wanted to know what in Cooper’s past made him incapable of saying ‘I love you’. He didn’t remember seeing anything in Cooper’s file when he’d requested it ten years ago, when he’d learned he would become Cooper’s partner. But then, it had been a decade… maybe there was something he’d missed… something he’d shrugged off, or hadn’t known what it meant when he saw it…

Everything had changed since then.

“I know, Coop… so I’ll say it for both of us.”


	10. Contacting the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don looks for explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

Title: Contacting the Dead  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper/Don  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 143  
Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is not mine.  
Summary: Don looks for explanations  
Note: Conference Wives Fic – The Dead Arc

The next morning, Don requested Cooper’s file.

He read it over lunch.

He reread it with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

He contemplated taking it home and staring at it in the early hours of the morning while Coop slept.

Nothing.

Nothing that made it into the file anyway.

Billy Cooper was born in Iowa, went to Catholic schools, little adolescent mischief, technical college, track and field, parents dead.

Squeaky clean, all-American, heavy-drinking, Irish boy

School websites listed him as an Alum, a classmate had posted a funny reminiscence of one of the mischief incidents, death record search provided dates for Cooper’s parents, college newspaper on-line archive listed Cooper’s name in track meets.

Each search came up with exactly the information that was supposed to be there.

Each search sent a warning e-mail to Dr. Eva Thomas.

Each e-mail bounced back.


	11. Grateful for the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper is awakened by nightmares and dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> continues Conference Wives – the Dead Arc:

Title: Grateful for the Dead  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper/Don, Cooper/OMC  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 212  
Spoilers: none  
Summary: Cooper is awakened by nightmares and dreams  
Disclaimer – if you recognize it, it’s not mine.  
Note: continues Conference Wives – the Dead Arc:  
Master List: <http://dance-the-code.livejournal.com/2029.html>

 

If he had to be honest with himself his worst nightmare and his favorite dream were one and the same.

And they were real.

A memory that replayed a million times, waking or sleeping.

The same beginning, same end

Bastard got the drop on him.

Held him down, on his knees, made him helpless, a scared ten year old, flashing back to a hundred nights of pain.

Eppes rounded the corner and put one right between the bastard’s eyes, no hesitation.

Don had grabbed him as soon as he was free of the dead man’s grip and embraced him with a fierceness that jolted him out of a hundred memories, asking if he was okay.

Cooper could only nod and say something about paperwork, letting Eppes call in, turn in his weapon, take the required time off. No one questioned why Cooper froze, no one really cared the bastard was dead.

Except Cooper.

Cooper had wanted his uncle dead since the first night he walked in his bedroom and told him no one would hear him if he screamed…almost twenty years earlier.

He watched Eppes sleeping in the moonlight, wondering if Eppes even remembered that afternoon in Cleveland.

He returned to the bed and whispered in the sleeping man’s ear.

“Thanks, Eppes.”


	12. Dead to the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don wonders if he should let Cooper sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

Title: Dead to the World  
Pairing/Characters: Don/Cooper  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 189  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Don wonders if he should let Cooper sleep  
Note: Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

The alarm will go off soon. Don knows this, hates this, these moments when he could close his eyes and sleep for five extra minutes without hitting the snooze.

Five minutes wrapped in Cooper’s embrace, no questions asked.

Five minutes wasted by being wide awake.

He looks at Cooper and wonders why the familiar face is unfamiliar in this moment.

Something different, Don reaches out and gently brushes Cooper’s cheek, unfamiliar lines from the eye to the chin.

Tears, tears made lines like those.

Cooper had been crying?

Don could not think of a single time, not even when Cooper was in pain, when that had happened.

He glanced up as the numbers changed on the alarm clock and leaned over Cooper’s sleeping form quickly to stop the alarm from sounding.

Should he talk to Cooper about this?

Should he ignore it?

Could people cry in their sleep?

Charlie would know the answer to that one.

Cooper opened his eyes. “Alarm go off yet?”

Don shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“Come here then.” Cooper pulled him down for a morning kiss.

Don tasted the salt on his lips.


	13. Haunted by the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper battles with his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

Title: Haunted by the Dead  
Pairing/Characters: Don/Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 145  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Cooper battles with his past.  
Note: Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

Days like this mornings had their own check list.

Sexually abusive uncle, shot dead like a dog?

Check.

Father, dead in a bar fight?

Check.

Homicidal brothers in prison?

Check, check and check.

Alcoholic insane mother rotting away from some sexually transmitted disease?

Check.

Teeth brushed?

Check.

Whisky in the coffee?

Check.

Eppes within reach?

Check.

He stared into the mirror, splashed water on his face and willed the past to disappear. His mother’s cursing, his father telling him to be good for his uncle, to do his part to decrease the family’s debt, his brother holding the pillow over his face…

“Fuck’em.” Cooper took a deep breath and walked back into the kitchen.

Eppes looked up with concern and Cooper shrugged.

He added another splash of whisky to the coffee for good measure.

He wasn’t fighting alone anymore.

He just hoped he could count on Eppes to stay if he told him.


	14. Dead and Gone, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie sorts Eva’s files in the garage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

Title: Dead and Gone, Part I  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 436  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Charlie sorts Eva’s files in the garage  
Note: Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

According to Tony, Eva had requested that all personal papers and files be destroyed.

Tony had asked Charlie to take care of this as he had the clearance to sort through and determine which files were personal and which were finished projects that should go to the appropriate agency. Beyond that, there were likely unfinished projects that should be discussed with the requesting agency.

He had put it off as long as possible.

Actually, he could have put it off longer, no one would know the difference, but Charlie could not see holding off on sorting the files any longer than he already had.

Isaac was ensconced with Ian, some home movies and a bowl of popcorn and Charlie slit the tape on the first box.

Personal records, financial stuff, household notes. He resealed the box and marked it destroy.

Second box, NSA and CIA program notes, mostly completed. He set the box aside.

Third box, old programs, Eva’s personal stuff – programs designed to make life miserable for people involved in child pornography and hate groups. He resealed the box and marked it destroy.

The fourth box was a hodge-podge of personal programs, ideas that were never presented to various agencies and at the bottom of the box, a file marked Butterscotch.

Butterscotch.

Charlie smiled, he knew about this. Butterscotch was Eva’s personal epithet for a troublesome FBI agent.

He remembered working on programs with Eva only to be interrupted by a ping from Eva’s computer and a series of curses, as Eva set about altering reports to make a potential suspension into a warning.

“Charlie,” She would say. “I love butterscotch, but he’s a hell of a lot more trouble than he’s worth. Great agent, dependable, devil-may-care attitude, sense of a dime store candy. The man is like a puppy…not just a puppy, a rain soaked, kicked puppy and you know, if you take him in, he’ll eat your shoes and piddle on the rug…but it’s a mitzvah. You take him in anyway.”

Charlie held the file in his hands a moment, butterscotch was personal to Eva, she didn’t like people to know she cared as much as she did.

But, it was quite possible that butterscotch was a friend, someone who should be notified that Eva had…passed.

He couldn’t very well call up the personnel office of the FBI and ask for contact information for Agent Butterscotch.

He chuckled to himself and sat down on a sealed box to sort through the file and find a name.

That was all he really needed, just a name and he’d alert butterscotch that Eva… was gone.


	15. Dead and Gone, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie sorts Eva’s files in the garage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

Title: Dead and Gone, Part II  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 328  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Charlie sorts Eva’s files in the garage  
Note: Conference Wives – the Dead Arc

An hour later, the file slipped through Charlie’s fingers and the pages scattered across the garage floor.

He grabbed a nearby waste paper basket and was sick.

Hospital reports, yellow sheets, official reports, unofficial reports, hand written notes, name change forms, death certificate, case files…

The real background of one Billy Cooper, a man who didn’t really exist until Eva was asked to create an unquestionable background.

Billy Cooper.

The man currently sleeping with his brother was a former criminal informant, an underage prostitute… almost every member of his family had a criminal record.

Charlie tried to remember if Cooper had shown any signs of knowing Eva when they discussed what had happened.

No.

Cooper didn’t know Eva.

Cooper probably knew that his personnel file stated he was a Catholic track and field star from Iowa, rather than a criminal informant from a Chicago ghetto, with a history of abuse.

But, what if he didn’t?

Charlie doubted Cooper had ever requested his own personnel file, it would have raised suspicions, but Don would have.

What did Don know?

Charlie pulled the file back together, taking a final gut twisting look at photographs of a young Billy Cooper and tried to determine what to do.

It was Cooper’s file.

It should be destroyed.

This file could end Cooper’s career, put him in danger, put Don in danger.

He traced a finger over Eva’s notes, faded ink on dusty sheets from a yellow legal pad.

He stopped and opened a box returned to him after the court case in Virginia had finished.

He compared these notes to an FBI program file in that box and laughed at the irony.

The program that created Billy Cooper’s background was the prototype for Eva’s undercover agent background creation program, the one tied to the money-laundering program Alexis’ father had convinced her to give him, in exchange for Eva’s life.

He clutched both files to his chest as the tears streamed down his cheeks.


	16. This may be the Death of me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie seeks help from Larry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – The Dead Arc

Title: This may be the Death of me  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie, Larry  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 826  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Charlie seeks help from Larry  
Note: Conference Wives – The Dead Arc

Charlie reread the file and then called Larry. In times of crisis, his mentor was usually helpful.

“Hello?” Larry picked up after the fifth ring.

“Larry, I have a problem.”

“Charles? What is it?”

“Well, I can’t tell you specifically…” Charlie flipped a piece of chalk between his fingers as he looked at the board in front of him.

“Then tell me in the abstract Charles and we will try to reason it out.”

“Okay…it involves four, no, five people.” Charlie made five chalk lines on the board.

“Okay, we’ll label them persons one through five.” Larry started scribbling on a piece of paper.

“Okay, person one is actually person two.”

“Person one equals person two?”

“No, they are not equal, but they are the same person – person one is the almost mirror image of person two.”

“Ah – I think I get it, now, person one and person two are two aspects of the same person.”

“We’ll let that stand – person one may or may not know he is person two, but knows he is person one.”

“Charles…are you creating a word problem for your students based on the story if Jekyll and Hyde?”

“What? No…no, nothing like that.” Charlie erased his attempts at recreating their discussion in the form of a logical proof.

“Alright, continue then.”

“Okay, person two is in a relationship with person three.”

“That may be the clearest point of this entire discussion, Charles.”

“Well, it’s probably not going to be clear for long, because person three does not know person two is person one and that may be causing some problems.”

“Ah, I’m beginning to see the point of this exercise. Dark matter of the soul.”

“Um, sure. Now, all of this is true, because of person four.”

“Person four?”

“Yes, person four created person two to hide the truth about person one.”

“But, person four may not have told person one that he is person two?”

“I am thinking it is unlikely.”

“Okay, but person one started a relationship with person three, but as person two.”

“As far as person three would understand it.”

“Alright, what happens with person four.”

“Person four is dead.”

“Ah – does person one know this?”

Charlie started to shake his head and then nodded, despite Larry not being able to see him. “Yes, but person one does not know that person four recreated him as person two.”

“This is troublesome.”

“It gets worse.” Charlie slumped in a chair.

“Explain.” Larry leaned back in his chair, keeping the phone against his ear with his shoulder an reviewing the notes he had made on the pad in front of him.

“Person five goes through person four’s effects and finds the information that person two is really person one and is currently in a bit of a conundrum.”

“Is it safe to assume, Charles, that you are person five?”

“Yes.”

“And that person four must be…Eva?”

“Yes.”

“Okay – that will make some of this clearer. Eva, created a persona for someone without telling that person, but other people, such as your person three, know this persona rather than the true nature of the person, you have stumbled upon this perplexing dichotomy and are seeking assistance…am I right so far?”

“Yes.” Charlie ran his hands through his hair, creating lines of chalk dust amid the curls.

“Good, continue.”

“Who do I tell first – person one or person three?”

“Ah, do you tell person one that he is person two and let him explain to person three or do you tell person three that person two is actually person one and hope that this fixes the problems person one is having with person three…”

“Yes and no – person three needs to know and person one needs to know, but they both need to know for different reasons – since person one doesn’t know he is really person two, he could inadvertently get himself into a sticky situation and if person three doesn’t know that person two is person one…well, there are already problems, but there could be more and there have been some in the past…”

“Do you think person one would tell person three that he is not person two?”

“Person one is person two, Larry.”

“Right, yes, do you think person one or would it be person two…”

“From person three’s perspective it would be person two telling him about person one, but I don’t know if person one or two would tell person three about any of this and person three needs to know…especially because of what it means now that Eva is gone…”

“Eva was protecting person one by doing all this?”

“Yes and more.”

“I see…you are right Charles, this is a puzzling situation. Let me think about it.”

“I’ll do the same and maybe we can sort this out.”

“I hope so, Charles.”

Charlie hung up the phone and looked at the file in his lap. He hoped Larry could help him sort this out.


	17. Left for Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes decisions are made for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – The Dead Arc

Title: Left for Dead  
Pairing/Characters: Don, Charlie, Cooper  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 404  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Sometimes decisions are made for you  
Note: Conference Wives – The Dead Arc

Charlie picked up the phone on the third insistent ring.

“Dr. Eppes.”

“Charlie, don’t talk, just listen, I have only a minute. Coop’s been hurt, bad, he’s at the hospital. I can’t leave the scene. You have to go sit with him, okay? Just stay with him until I can get there. Say Okay, Charlie.”

“Okay, Don.”

“Thanks, Buddy.” Don hung up and Charlie looked at the files in his hands.

It was no longer his decision.

He would tell Cooper first, and if Cooper didn’t live to see Don…he would destroy the files and tell Don nothing.

He put the files in his bag and quickly sought out the sniper in the house.

“Ian!”

The sniper appeared, gun in hand.

“Ian, put the gun down, everything’s okay. I have to go to the hospital, Cooper was hurt and Don can’t leave the scene.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

Charlie shook his head. “I want you to take care of Isaac until I get back.”

Ian nodded and removed the four year old from the broom closet where he had stowed the little boy when Charlie had shouted for him.

Charlie reviewed this situation and attempted to quantify whether this was endearing or something that may need to be addressed as “inappropriate handling of a small child.” He decided he was wasting time and he needed to get to the hospital.

He crouched down and scooped Isaac up. “Isaac, Agent Cooper got hurt and had to go to the hospital. Agent Don has to save the world right now, so he asked me to stay with Agent Cooper to make sure he’s not alone, so it’s going to be you and Merlin for a little while, okay?”

Isaac nodded. “Agen Cooper need three point one four one five nine?” He held the teddy bear up for his daddy.

“No, Agent Cooper doesn’t need 3.14159, he just needs someone to sit with him.”

“Okay…come back?”  
“I’ll come home when Agent Don gets to the hospital to check on Agent Cooper, okay…you and Merlin can build a fort.”

Isaac flashed his Daddy a grin and with a kiss to Charlie’s cheek, scrambled down to gather Merlin so they could find fort making supplies.

Charlie gave Ian a quick kiss, trying to tell him everything he wanted to say in that moment in a simple press of lips, and then left for the hospital.


	18. Not Dead Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie gets to the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Title: Not Dead Yet  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie, Cooper  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 302  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Charlie gets to the hospital  
Note: Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Vaguely reminiscent of seeking Eva the day Isaac was born, it took Charlie three times explaining the situation to make himself understood and find Cooper’s room.

Cooper was awake, well-bandaged and irritable.

Charlie wondered if this was really a good time to discuss everything with him. Cooper looked up as he walked in.

“Hey, kid – can you convince these clowns that I’m fine and I can leave?”

“No…no I can’t do that…Agent Cooper…we…we should talk.”

“Did you at least bring whiskey? Your brother would have brought me whiskey.”

“No, Agent Cooper, no whiskey.”

“Well, what do we need to talk about, kid, spit it out.”

Charlie took a deep breath. “We need to talk about Eva and some things that she was doing for…”

“What? Kid, you’re not making sense. Why would we need to talk about your lesbian baby-mama? What does that have to do with me…talk to your brother, I’m not good at this sharing your feelings crap.”

“Yes…Agent Cooper…but…damn it.” Charlie paced the floor in front of Cooper’s hospital bed twice.

“Kid, stop it, they gave me some damn pills and you’re making me dizzy.”

Charlie studied Cooper a long minute. He was here because Don had asked him to come and look after Cooper until he could leave and come to the hospital. At this moment, Charlie felt like smacking Cooper upside the head until he was unconscious and then discussing what Eva had done for him.

Cooper sighed and sagged against the pillows. “If you can’t get me out and you didn’t bring any whiskey, can you at least sit down and try to make sense?”

“Here.” Charlie handed the files to Cooper as he dropped into the chair next to the bed. “She was my best friend, the mother of my son and your guardian angel.”


	19. Deadlier than the Male

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper reads the files Charlie provides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Okay - I'll stick it out until I get tossed off LJ for whatever infraction they have in mind.

Title: Deadlier than the Male  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper, Charlie  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 728  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Cooper reads the files Charlie provides.  
Note: Conference Wives – Dead Arc

He stared at the words on the pages. He had been floating, uncomfortably drugged to the point of being comfortable.

Confused by what Charlie had been saying, trying to make sense of what the kid meant, just wanting him to go away or get him out of the hospital.

But this…he read the file, more sober than he had been since the day he was born.

Aware of every detail, every sound made by man or machine, every word, every memory.

Bradley had said he would take care of it.

They never talked about it, he took the tests, he picked a new name and then he was in Quantico and Bradley was dead before graduation.

The Lesbian baby mama of his lover’s brother had created the man that his lover loved.

Wait. That was a little muddled, maybe still a little drugged.

He tried it again.

Lesbian baby mama

That part was right

Of his lover’s baby brother

Yep, that was also right.

Created the man that his lover loved.

Every one of his traits, flaws and idiosyncrasies was explained away in a lily white wash of Americana - mother dead, father distant, Catholic school, no siblings, track and field, decent student…none of this was him…but all of it was the background of the man Eppes loved.

The type of man someone like Eppes could love, should love.

The file in his hand told a different story. The real story.

From when he was given to his uncle by his father as a sexual play thing, in exchange his uncle paid some of his father’s gambling debts

It included his brothers and sisters, too many to count, his mom drunk, high, stoned, violent, brothers murderous psychopaths

It detailed turning tricks on the streets for food, money, finding out he was sucking off an fed when he picked the man’s pocket to palm a little extra cash for something to take the edge off.

The litany of information, misdeeds and sins of others that poured from his lips in desperation, begging to be left alone.

Working as a criminal informant and then, Bradley took care of it

A post it note stuck to this file was his ticket to salvation.

He was in the FBI, running down scum, with a second sight as to where they would be and what they would do.

Because he was no better than the scum he ran down.

All because of a post-it note on a dead woman’s file folder, about him needing a second chance.

He removed “his” death certificate from the file and felt every moment of his life, good and bad twist in his gut, deeper than a knife.

“Kid…what do you mean she was my guardian angel?”

Charlie looked at him a long moment. “She had a program that she inserted into the FBI’s computer system, every time someone accessed your personnel file, the one you have there that says you’re from Iowa, she would be notified and she could make sure they didn’t find something that would endanger your career. She had another one that sent her a warning every time you were written up for some infraction, or if you were hurt or if your back account was running a little low. She would fix it, wire money into your account, sit next to your bed at the hospital until you started to come around, change suspensions to warnings…anything to make certain you kept your job, kept out of trouble. She called you butterscotch. I was in her office a hundred times, listening to her bitch about you, she would curse a blue streak and then say you were a great asset to the FBI, you would stick with someone to the end, if you thought you could trust them. You’d risk your life for others, best person someone could ask for when stuck between a rock and a hard place…cocky as hell, but you had the common sense of a dime store candy. She never really met you, or spoke with you, but she cared about you Cooper. You were her first project for the FBI and she wanted to make sure you were okay. Now it’s up to you. There’s no one alive, besides me and you that know about the files in your lap. What do you want me to do with them?”


	20. Death Kindly Stopped for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper asks Charlie a few questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Title: Death Kindly Stopped for Me  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper, Charlie  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 216  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Cooper asks Charlie a few questions  
Note: Conference Wives – Dead Arc

“What do you mean, what do I want you to do?” Cooper stared at Charlie.

“I mean, do you want me to destroy the files, do you want to destroy them, do you want to tell Don, should I tell Don? What do you want me to do?”

Cooper was still and silent, moments becoming minutes and Charlie was glad there was a monitor telling him that Cooper was still alive, because he was eerily still.

Cooper took a deep breath and Charlie focused entirely on his face.

“Would he leave?”

“Who?”

“Don…if I told him, would he leave?”

Charlie calculated the contingent possibilities and probabilities in his head.

“No. I don’t think this would make Don leave. If anything it should clear up a lot of confusion for Don, he doesn’t know any of this, he has spent years understanding you based on the Iowa file and that has to have caused some confusion and hurt feelings on occasion.”

Cooper nodded slowly. “Okay, kid…I’ll tell him. Leave these with me…and can you get my cell phone from the nurse’s station? I have a call to make.”

Charlie quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Not to Don…there’s something else I have to do.”

Charlie accepted this and left to seek out a nurse and Cooper’s cell phone.


	21. Until Death do you Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper makes a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Title: Until Death do you Part  
Pairing/Characters: Cooper, OFCs  
Rating/Category: PG  
Word Count: 470  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Cooper makes a phone call.  
Note: Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Charlie appeared with the cell phone and then Cooper shooed him out.

He looked at the phone a long moment and then dialed the number that had inadvertently engrained itself into his memory without his permission.

The voice that answered was young and bright.

“Hello?”

“Uh, hello, Ms. Drummond…this is Agent Cooper…”

“Agent Cooper?! Oh, I’m so glad you called!” There was a muffling of the mouth piece and Cooper heard the young woman shouting away from the phone. “Mom, pick up the extension, it’s Agent Cooper.”

Cooper felt his heart clutch, he did not want to speak with Bradley’s widow.

“Hello, Agent Cooper? Are you there?” The first voice was back.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”

“I am so glad you called…can you do it?”

“Well…if you’re sure you want me to be the one, Anna…”

“Please, Agent Cooper? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or anything, I know its an odd request…but…”

“I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Agent Cooper…can you hang on a minute, mom wants to talk to you.”

He choked back bile. “Sure, no problem.”

An older voice, more familiar, freshening memories of the funeral came on the line.

“Agent Cooper?”

“Hello, Mrs. Drummond.”

“Thank you so much for doing this for Anna…actually, I have so much to thank you for, I’ve never had a chance to talk to you before…”

“Nothing to thank me for, Mrs. Drummond…”

“Agent Cooper…you’ve sent money for me and the children every month, you’ve remembered birthdays and holidays, you helped me through some very difficult times, without ever saying a word…so, please, let me at least take this moment to say thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Drummond.”

“Can I ask you a question, Agent Cooper?”

“Sure…don’t know if I can answer it, but you can ask.”

“You knew Bradley well…right?”

“Well enough, I knew him before I joined the bureau.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…he saved my life, gave me advice, helped me get into the bureau…and I never had the chance to thank him.”

“So…that’s why you’ve looked after us?”

Cooper paused and decided to give her the answer she wanted to hear. “Yes.”

She took a deep breath. “Then, maybe you don’t know the answer to the question I have…I know, there’s a tendency among law enforcement to be…well…do you know if Bradley had another woman on the side, Agent Cooper? Was he seeing other women?”

Cooper mentally thanked her for being gender specific. “Mrs. Drummond, you were the only woman in Bradley’s life.”

He heard a slight sob of relief. “You don’t know how much that means to me, to really know…Agent Cooper…I had thought there might be another woman…”

“No, Mrs. Drummond, there was no other woman. I’ll see you at the wedding.”

“Thank you Agent Cooper.”

“You’re welcome.”

He hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling.


	22. What you don’t know could kill me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper talks to Don

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Title: What you don’t know could kill me  
Pairing/Characters: Charlie, Cooper/Don  
Rating/Category: R  
Word Count: 757  
Spoilers: None  
Summary: Cooper talks to Don  
Note: Conference Wives – Dead Arc

Don was surprised to see Charlie sitting outside Cooper’s hospital room, but before the surprise could give way to anger, Charlie explained that Cooper didn’t want him in the room.

Don shook his head and messed up Charlie’s hair. “Okay, yeah…he can be like that.”

Charlie nodded. “I’ll be heading back home…you want me to bring you anything?”

“Nah, I’ll grab dinner in the cafeteria.”

Charlie made a face. “Yeah…I’ll bring you a plate.”

“Thanks, Chuck.”

“No problem.” Charlie left and Don entered the hospital room, to find Cooper staring at the ceiling, as though willing it to fall down on his head.

“Hey, Coop.”

“Sit down, Eppes…we have to talk.”

Don felt his stomach drop into the vicinity of his knees and his mouth filled with a painful dryness. “Sure.”

He sat.

Cooper kept his eyes focused on the ceiling. “I’m not from Iowa. I never went to church, let alone a Catholic school. I never went to high school, let alone college, never ran track, my mother is alive and I’m not an only child.”

Don stared at Cooper, searching his profile for some sign that he was bull shitting, but Cooper’s face was blank and pale.

“Coop…that’s the highlights of your file…”

“No…that’s the highlights of the file that was created for me. I didn’t know about it. I was told to fill out forms and take tests, pick a new name and that it would be taken care of…I didn’t know it would be taken care of with a fake death certificate and a lot of quasi-legal computer stuff from your brother’s lesbian baby mama.”

“What? Coop? What the hell do they have you on?” Don started to stand to check Cooper’ s file in the bin on the door.

“No, Eppes, stay put, damn it! Sit down!” Cooper started to sit up, pain dancing across his face.

Don sat.

“I have the files here, Charlie found them when he was going through Eva’s file… brought them here and talked to me about it… she was looking out for me.” Cooper pulled the files from behind his pillow. “Here…read these. This is me. This is the real me… this is why I’m not good with pretty words, this is why I fuck up everything good that comes my way…” *This is why you’re going to leave me again*

Don didn’t want to take the files.

He didn’t want his hands to shake as he took them.

He didn’t want the tears that burned against the corners of his eyes as he started to read.

He didn’t want the wave of nausea that crashed against his chest, causing his heart to beat hard enough for him to feel it.

He didn’t want Cooper to be lying in a hospital bed, he wanted him at home, in their apartment, if he had to read this litany of abuses and trespass against the man he loved, he’d rather it was in their apartment, in their bedroom, in their bed, with the lights low and a stiff drink within reach.

He didn’t want the distance between himself and Cooper right now.

He closed the files and forced the vomit in his throat back down.

He reached for Cooper’s nurse call button and remained silent until it was answered.

“Is something the matter?”

Don cleared his throat. “Yes…Agent Cooper really doesn’t like hospital and he’s not going to relax enough to recover here…is there anyway I can convince someone to let me take him back to his place. I can guarantee he won’t be alone.”

“Let me find the doctor and see what can be done.”  
“Thank you.”

As soon as she left, Don stood and walked to Cooper’s bedside. “This file, does not change the fact that I love you, Coop. I don’t care if you can’t say pretty words or if we fuck what we have up a million times and I do mean we, because I have done my fair share of fucking this up. I love you, damn it and nothing will ever change that. We’ll sort the rest of this out together. We’ll go home as soon as the doctor says I can get you out of here.”

Cooper’s eyes left the ceiling and focused on Don’s face. “You mean it, Eppes?”

“Yeah, Coop. I mean it.”

“We’ll have to stop at the liquor store, I’m out of painkiller.”

Don shook his head and swallowed the laugh, he didn’t feel like laughing right now. “Yeah, okay. I know…you don’t like pills.”

“Damn straight.”


End file.
